


In the Garden

by MakeUsMarble



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Aziraphale Loves Crowley (Good Omens), BAMF Aziraphale (Good Omens), Canon Divergence, Crowley Loves Aziraphale (Good Omens), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Ineffable Husbands (Good Omens), M/M, Protective Aziraphale (Good Omens), Protective Crowley (Good Omens), Scene: Garden of Eden (Good Omens)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:21:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25699492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MakeUsMarble/pseuds/MakeUsMarble
Summary: And now the angel was gone. The demon leaned limply against a tree. His eyes slipped shut, and for the first time in weeks he stopped fighting all the pain. Just let himself feel it.There was a quiet fluttering sound, not typical of the animals of the Garden and very close. The demon opened his golden eyes and stared straight into brilliant, smiling blue ones.“Found you,” said Aziraphale.
Relationships: Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Comments: 21
Kudos: 181





	In the Garden

**Author's Note:**

> I've read a lot of "what if they knew each other when they were both angels?" fics, and I have several little story ideas around that premise. This one is the softest, and honestly probably my favorite. Not much plot, mainly fluff. Hope you enjoy!

The demon stood silent and perfectly still, looking into the distance. His body was tense and focused, attention entirely concentrated. He had just completed what might have been the most important task of his entire existence, an accomplishment that could win him accolades in Hell and eternal fame on Earth, but he wasn’t thinking about that. The riot of beautiful greenery that was the Garden of Eden surrounded him on all sides, filling the air with perfume, but he did not pay it any attention either. Instead he stared at a white mark no larger than his thumb on top of a massive stone wall. If he squinted he could see, or imagined he could see, a touch of gold atop the white that might possibly have been an angel’s blond curls.

After a long, long time, the white mark expanded and rose into the air, hovered for a moment, and then disappeared into the distance beyond the wall. The demon watched for as long as he could pretend there was anything left to see.

“Goodbye, Aziraphale,” he whispered.

_Several Weeks Earlier_

_The demon stalked through Hell and directly to the most dangerous part of it he was ever likely to visit: Lord Beelzebub’s inner sanctum._

_“I want to be reassigned,” he said loudly._

_Beelzebub didn’t even look up from their paperwork. “No.”_

_“Don’t like it up there,” he continued confidently, ignoring his boss. “Too much sunshine. Way too many happy little living things. Adam and Eve are disgustingly content. This whole temptation thing isn’t going to work. You want it done, put somebody else on it.”_

_Beelzebub continued to peruse the document in their hand. “I put_ you _on it. I don’t care what you like.”_

_“But I--”_

_“I_ said _,” they continued, “I. Don’t. Care.” They still hadn’t looked up, but just the barest hint of a threat had entered their voice._

_The demon gulped, but persisted, shifting into a wheedling tone. “I really think my skills would be more useful down here, working with--”_

_“Get out.”_

_The demon took a breath to continue, but then--_

_“This report says a new angel has just been assigned as a guardian up there. Aziraphale.” Beelzebub said casually. The demon froze._

_Beelzebub was still scanning their papers. “You two had some sort of…_ thing _back in Heaven, didn’t you.”_

_The demon’s face went still and hard. “The angel you’re referring to is dead.”_

_“Damn right he is.” Beelzebub looked up at last, and their stare could have burned through paper. “All the rest of us have been spat on by our former_ brothers. _” The last word was a snarl. “You can stop acting like a pathetic little shit and suck it up just like everyone else.”_

_The demon nodded sharply, eyes ablaze with something that did not quite look like anger. He turned to the door._

_“And Crawly,” Beelzebub’s voice was casual again, but it stopped the demon in his tracks. “If, by any chance, he_ doesn’t _spit on you...” The prince of Hell smiled. “You know what to do. We can always use more_ brothers _down here, after all.”_

_The demon’s fists clenched. “Yes, lord.” He forced out between gritted teeth, and left._

  
  


And now the angel was gone. The demon leaned limply against a tree. His eyes slipped shut, and for the first time in weeks he stopped fighting all the pain. Just let himself feel it.

There was a quiet fluttering sound, not typical of the animals of the Garden and very close. The demon opened his golden eyes and stared straight into brilliant, smiling blue ones.

“Found you,” said Aziraphale.

Then there was a hand behind his neck and another at the small of his back, and the angel pulled him firmly into a kiss.

All the demon’s carefully-made plans evaporated. His hands rose to clutch the front of Aziraphale’s robes, and all he could think was _He still loves me He still loves me He still loves me_ , over and over, consuming his mind and pounding through his veins.

“You-- idiot--” the angel gasped between kisses. “You’ve been here for _weeks_ \-- haven’t you? Hiding from me-- oh, I could kill you!” Aziraphale pressed him back against the tree. “Oh, _Raphael--”_

The name hit him like a slap in the face. It slammed him back into the present and everything that had happened, everything he was now. Everything he could not have. He ripped himself out of the angel’s arms and stumbled backwards. “That is _not_ my name,” he snarled.

Aziraphale looked at him, lips quirking in a smile. “What, do you want me to call you Crawly? I will if you like, but I can’t say it suits you.”

“I don’t want you to call me anything!” he snapped. “I want you to stay away from me!” He was remembering now, what he had planned to say, what he had to do. “Whatever you think you’re going to _get_ out of this, I don’t want any part of it. _I’m not him._ ” He took a breath and turned his back on Aziraphale. “Mourn the angel you loved, if you must. He is dead,” he said over his shoulder, not making eye contact. “But leave me out of it. I don’t want to be _reminded_ of the past. Never come near me again.” He began to stalk away into the underbrush.

Another flutter of white wings, and Aziraphale was blocking his way, something bright and fierce in his eyes. 

“Before you go, there’s something important that you should understand,” he said calmly. He held the demon’s eyes before he went on.

“I am _never_ going to do that.” 

He stepped closer as the demon backed away, voice unyielding. “If you run, I will follow you. If you hide, I will search for you. I don’t care if it takes until every star I watched you make has burned out of the heavens. I don’t care if it takes until the end of time itself.” He was just a breath away now, eyes blazing with something the demon didn’t dare name. “I will _never_ let you go.”

The demon was trembling. _“I… don’t… love you anymore,”_ he forced out. The words burned like a hot knife in his gut, blistering his mouth.

Aziraphale’s face softened, and his hand rose to touch the demon’s cheek. “Oh, my dear,” he said, smiling a little. “You love me so much that you’d rather rip your own heart out than see me hurt.” His expression went determined again. “But I’m not going to let you do that.”

The demon jerked away from the touch, face contorted with anger and with something else. “Ssstupid angel, don’t you understand,” he hissed through the tightness in his throat. “I’m a _demon_ . Get out of here before I hurt you!” His body tensed, writhed, and he transformed. A massive black snake now rose over the angel’s head, all gleaming darkness and rippling coils. “ _Leave now, or I’ll make you regret it,”_ he hissed.

Aziraphale did not look impressed. “Really.”

The demon reared his head back, exposing his fangs to the unmoving angel with a threatening hiss. He paused for a moment, waiting for Aziraphale to run. Then he struck.

The demon and angel were motionless, gold eyes and blue locked on each other. Massive fangs dripping with venom were frozen less than a centimeter from Aziraphale’s face. The angel hadn’t even flinched.

Aziraphale raised an eyebrow. “Finished?”

The demon retreated all at once, pulling backward, back into his human form, shoulders curling in on himself in defeat as energy ran out of him like water. 

“You have to let me go, Aziraphale,” he said quietly, not meeting the angel’s eyes. “You’ll fall if you don’t.”

“I doubt it,” he said casually. The demon shook his head, but Aziraphale didn’t move. “I didn’t fall when I fell in love with you the moment we met.” He stepped closer, eyes intent on the demon’s face. “I haven’t fallen for loving you every second we’ve been apart.” He reached out and carefully, gently, took the demon’s hand in both his own. “I doubt I’ll fall because I go on loving you now.” He shrugged. “But if I do, then so be it.”

“ _So be it?”_ The demon’s head jerked up to look at him in horror. “You don’t-- you don’t understand what you’re saying! Do you know what happens, when you fall?” He pulled away from the angel, face twisted with agony and desperation. “ _They burn your wings off, Aziraphale._ You fall, and you fall, for so long that hitting the ground breaks every bone in your body, and you think that’ll be the worst of it, but then you start _drowning_ in fire, breathing it in _,_ and it’s pain like you’ve never imagined, and it goes on and on till you think you’ll go mad with it, but that’s _nothing_ compared to feeling part of your soul burn away, and knowing you’re totally alone, and you _always will be_ , and you’ve lost _everything--_ ” the demon broke off, almost sobbing.

Aziraphale was looking at him with an expression of terrible grief on his face, and for a moment the demon thought he understood. “Oh, my love,” the angel whispered. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” Then his arms wrapped gently around him. “You should never have had to go through that-- I should have been there. I should have been there. I’m so sorry, darling.” He pulled the demon close, holding him as he shook, still tense in the angel’s arms.

A ragged laugh escaped from his throat. “That’s-- that’s not the _point_ , Aziraphale, I--”

“Would you do it?” Aziraphale cut him off.

The demon stared at him dumbly. “What?”

“Would you do what you’re asking me to, if you could?”

He shook his head impatiently. “That doesn’t make any _sense_ , I--”

“If you had a chance to take it all back, turn your wings white again, erase all that pain,” he stared fiercely into the demon’s eyes. “If you could have Heaven back, but the price was that we could never see each other again, _would you do it?”_

The words slipped out of his mouth without his permission. 

“You _are_ Heaven, Aziraphale,” he said helplessly.

The angel’s face transformed, and he beamed at him with pure joy. “ _Exactly.”_

Aziraphale pulled the demon close, and finally, he stopped fighting. Fear still gripped him like a vise, but he was out of arguments, out of tricks and lies, and he couldn’t stop himself from melting into his beloved angel’s arms.

Aziraphale rocked him gently. “It’s all right, darling,” he murmured. “I’m here. I found you again, and I won’t ever leave.” One hand was stroking the demon’s red curls, while the other ran up and down his back, soothing. After a moment he pulled back just slightly to wipe the tears from his lover’s cheeks. He smiled a little. “Was all this really necessary, dearest?”

The demon rested his forehead against the angel’s. “I-- I didn’t want it to happen to you,” he said, and it almost sounded like a plea. “and--” He stopped.

Aziraphale’s hands framed his face. “And?”

“I was so afraid,” he whispered, eyes closed, voice breaking. “That you wouldn’t-- wouldn’t want--” he stopped, unable to speak. 

“Listen to me, darling.” Aziraphale leaned down, forcing the demon to meet his eyes. “There is nothing you could ever do, and nothing that could ever happen, that could make me stop loving you.” He stared into the golden eyes as if willing the demon to believe him.

The demon let out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob. “Oh, angel,” he said, arms tight around Aziraphale’s back. “You haven’t even asked what I did do.”

Aziraphale stroked his face. “I hope you’ll tell me; I think it’ll help. But it’s hardly relevant to this conversation. You must know that, dearest. If you’ve made mistakes--”

“ _If?”_ The demon broke in incredulously.

“Yes, _if,_ ” Aziraphale answered firmly. “ _If_ you’ve made mistakes, we’ll deal with them together. Like everything else.”

The demon shook his head. “How can you be so sure?” he said, voice full of grief.

“Because you’re part of me, love.” He cradled the demon gently. “I might get angry at you-- and I am, by the way, _quite_ cross that you hid from me for _weeks_ , you impossible thing--” he ducked his head, inviting the demon to laugh with him, “--but I could never turn away from you, not really. It would be like ripping out a piece of myself.”

The demon stared at him, entranced. Slowly he leaned forward and kissed his angel, for the first time in so very, very long. “I love you,” he whispered, and the tears were coming faster now. “I love you-- I missed you-- needed you so much--”

“ _Oh,”_ and the angel kissed him back passionately. “I missed you too, darling-- I love you so-- I’m never letting you out of my sight again, sweetheart--”

They stayed that way for a long time, wrapped in each other’s arms, kissing fiercely, their love and longing filling the empty Garden like a cloud.

Finally Aziraphale ended the kiss. “Come with me, darling,” he said, twining an arm around the demon’s waist. “Do you know the pool with the two little waterfalls? There are some roses there that made me think of you the first time I saw them. Sit there with me, for a while?”

The demon nodded, still leaning against his angel, and together they walked through the Garden.

The evening found them curled up by the waterfalls, talking quietly, always with some reason to be touching or stroking or holding. Surrounded by the music of running water and the sweet perfumes on the breezes of the Garden, the demon finally started to relax. Nothing horrible had happened to Aziraphale. They hadn’t been condemned for loving each other before, after all. Maybe his angel was right, and everything was going to be okay.

Suddenly a beam of light shot down from heaven right in front of them. The demon scrambled desperately away from Aziraphale, prying himself out of the angel’s grasp, but it was too late, he wasn’t going to be able to get out of sight--

“Aziraphale,” Gabriel’s pleasant smile dropped from his face. “What is _that?_ ”

Aziraphale calmly stood, brushing off his robes as he turned to face his superior. The demon waited for the lie, praying that his angel would be convincing enough to protect himself--

Aziraphale raised an eyebrow. “I take it you haven’t met my husband?”

In spite of his dismay, the demon couldn’t suppress a shiver. It was a word they’d used, _before_ , and one he had never expected to hear from Aziraphale’s lips again.

Gabriel’s expression filled with shock and disgust. “ _That_ is a _demon!_ ”

“Yes,” Aziraphale agreed amiably.

Gabriel sputtered, struggling for words. “A-- a-- a demon can’t be your _husband!_ You are an _angel,_ Principality!”

“I am not aware of any such prohibition,” Aziraphale said coolly.

“Wh-wha- there is no need for a specific _prohibition!_ Are you mad? He’ll kill you!”

“I appreciate your concern, Archangel. I shall certainly be on my guard for any demonic misbehavior.” He turned to smile at the demon, who thought he might faint on the spot at the angel’s audacity. 

Gabriel finally overcame his shock and pulled himself together to speak with his usual authority. “Principality, you will cease all interaction with this creature immediately. Any bonds you may have had during his former existence have been rendered null. That is an order.”

He smiled gently. “No.”

The archangel’s calm dissolved. “You will _Fall_ , Aziraphale!”

“I believe that is Her decision, not yours.” Aziraphale’s chin went up and his veneer of deference evaporated. His eyes held the archangel’s steadily. “You have made your choice about your own demon-lover. You will not make mine.”

Gabriel’s face transformed, blazing with rage. He seized the front of Aziraphale’s robes and wrenched him up to his face. “ _I do not have a demon-lover,_ ” he snarled.

Aziraphale’s expression did not change. “As you say.”

Gabriel stared into those calm, judging eyes for a long moment, face twitching with fury. Finally he dropped the angel. The demon caught him from behind and steadied him until he found his feet, and Gabriel addressed him for the first time. “I hope you’ll be _happy_ , once you’ve destroyed him, _Fallen._ ” The demon flinched. “That is all your kind is capable of. I know this, even if you’ve deceived him.” 

Aziraphale pulled the demon into his arms protectively. “I think it would be best if you left now, Gabriel.”

The archangel looked at them, lip curling in disgust. “Clearly.” He turned and stalked away.

Aziraphale held the demon more tightly, stroking one hand up and down his back. “I’m sorry you had to listen to that, darling,” he murmured.

The demon let out a slightly hysterical laugh. “Are you _mad?_ He-- he could have hurt you! Done anything! You-- you could’ve pretended to be-- fighting me, or something, or I could’ve run, we could’ve tricked him, but you had to go and--” His voice was nearly a sob, now.

“Shhh,” Aziraphale pressed his lips to the demon’s cheek. “It’s all right. I’m not hurt, he didn’t do anything.” He rocked them gently. “It’s all right.”

The demon buried his face in the angel’s shoulder. “Why did you _do_ that?” he said, almost pleading.

“It was a bit reckless, I suppose, wasn’t it?” he said with a chuckle. “I didn’t really give it any thought, but--” He kissed the demon’s hair. “I don’t want to hide you. I don’t want to--pretend to be ashamed.” His voice went hard and scornful. “I also don’t have much patience for angels who abandon those they have claimed to love when their lovers need them most.”

“It’s the smart thing to do,” the demon whispered. “Not--not worth the risk.”

Aziraphale gripped his chin with one hand and kissed him, hard. “Then I must not be very smart,” he whispered against his lips. “You are worth any risk. Any sacrifice.”

The demon shook his head dumbly, but his angel was kissing him again, deep and insistent, and there were no more words for a long time.

Later, lying in Eden’s soft grasses with his head resting on Aziraphale’s chest, the demon felt wrapped in a strange peace. They weren’t safe, not really, he knew, and a corner of his heart was still cold with terror for his angel and everything he was risking. But it was hard to feel frightened with his husband’s hands caressing him, his quiet murmurs of love surrounding him like a cloud. Aziraphale wasn’t going to leave him. He knew that now, felt the certainty of it sink into his bones. Just for a little while, he would let himself believe that they really would be all right.

He felt himself starting to fall into a doze. His snake form was particularly fond of sleeping, and he had grown to like it very much in the past weeks. This was his first time sleeping as a human, and he wriggled his limbs to get just that much closer to Aziraphale, enjoying the sensation.

“You know, darling,” the angel said softly, running his fingers gently through the red hair pooled on his chest. “You never did tell me what you’d like me to call you.”

The demon considered for a moment. He’d hated the name Crawly from the moment he’d first heard it, shattered and weeping and full of the certainty that this soiled, fallen self could never be anything to Aziraphale. The old name, though-- it didn’t _hurt_ , like it had. Not now. Not wrapped in his angel’s arms, held close by his love. _Raphael_ , he tried in his mind.

Didn’t hurt, but didn’t feel quite right, either. That name belonged to an old self, brave and reckless and stupid. Not to him.

He needed a new name, then, something different from either one, something he’d make himself, like this new life. Or something they’d make together.

He smiled at the thought and ran a hand down Aziraphale’s chest, resting it just over his heart. 

“I’ll have to think about it,” the demon answered.

**Author's Note:**

> It seems that "cathartic weeping in the arms of your beloved" is going to play a central role in all of my writing, possibly?  
> Also just a hint of Ineffable Bureaucracy for anyone who likes that!  
> I would love any comments people are willing to leave! I'm pretty new at the fanfiction thing and it's so encouraging to hear what people have to say.  
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
